Codependent Independence
by Scarlet Temptation
Summary: He made me laugh when I felt I could cry. But he never once lead me to expect anything of him, and for that I was grateful. The techniques Jake used were... unorthodox, at best. But they worked. AU/OOC/Smut
1. Introduction

**_Co-dependent Independence_**

**Alice POV**

**:*:*:*:**

**Introduction**

**:*:*:*:**

He made me laugh when I felt I could cry. He'd push me to my limit, but never let me fall. When I wanted to scream, he'd drown out the noise into his chest, and hold me tight until I was done.

But he never once lead me to expect anything of him, and for that I was grateful. Because it made me stronger than I was to start off with. His lack of _actual _help made me stand on my own and learn not to rely on anyone.

He taught me that the only person that would never leave, hurt, use or neglect me, was me.

The techniques Jake used were . . . _unorthodox_, at best.

But they worked.

From all the times he'd been drop-kicked in the heart, he'd learnt a thing or two, and during the time when he was being tortured the most he helped me grow from a parasitic vine that was wholly dependent on others; into an independent oak, strong, resilient and forceful.

. . . and so what if he did so by watchingmepleasuremyself. Minor technicality. Not a big deal at all . . .


	2. Chapter One

**:*:*:*:**

**Chapter One**

**:*:*:*:**

"Jacob! No! Put me down!" I whisper-yelled and thumped his back with my fists. He had me thrown over his shoulder as if he were a fireman or something after he'd practically kidnapped me from the patio of my own backyard.

For the second time, his hand came down on my ass semi-playfully and he shushed me; stating that it wasn't going to happen and that I was just going to get us caught.

I stopped fighting and fell into a begrudging silence as I bounced along on his shoulder through the forest to where Jake's car was on the highway—where he _always _left it. Never thinking to change the location for safety/non-discovery reasons.

By the time we reached the car, twenty minutes later, I was completely anger-less and filled with boredom instead as Jacob swung me off his shoulder and into the passenger's seat of the VW Rabbit.

"We _could _run, you know?!" I grumbled as I watched him walk around the front to the driver's side.

"Yeah, but then one of the others that were phased would see in my head and we'd be screwed. Plus, driving gives us a little more time to work on you," he responded in a slightly regretful tone.

"How does sitting in a car help me?" I asked skeptically.

He glanced for a moment, then directed his eyes back to the road.

"Put your feet up on the dash," Jake instructed.

I cocked my eyebrow at him inquiringly. "Why?"

"Just do it," he muttered without looking back to me.

Hesitating for a long moment, I shot him a hard look of confusion, and then placed my feet up on the dashboard like he'd asked.

He looked over quickly before rolling his eyes. "Spread your feet wider apart. How the hell are you going to get your hand between your legs like that?!"

_You've got to be kidding me!_ I thought, simultaneously squeezing my knees tighter together.

"Now, Alice," he growled impatiently.

I scoffed quickly and clicked me tongue at him—mentally grumbling about how pushy he was—before proceeding to spread my legs wide.

"Happy?" I asked, almost sarcastic.

His reply was a simple, quietly spoken, "Yes" before he continued on in a more commanding tone. "Drop your chair back a few inches then slowly tease yourself over your panties."

Once again, I found myself looking at him out of the corner of my eye. This was a town full of loggers and their massive logging trucks. At any minute, one could drive past and look down to see me—legs spread, feet in the air—with my hand inside my pants and a casual driver who thinks nothing of it.

For whatever reason, that thought began turning me on.

I reached beside the chair, turned the wheel that controlled the backrest angle around a few clicks, and then adjusted myself to a comfortable position.

With a double flip of my wrists, my pants opened and I slipped my right hand in between my fly and my underwear.

"Up and down to start with," Jake decided.

Before complying, I took a deep breath and let it out. Most likely the last easy one I'd have for the next few hours.

Slowly and lightly to begin with, I rubbed my fingers up and down the contour in the fabric. Massaging and drawing soft circles in a gentle pattern to get my nerves waking up.

"Push harder," he murmured.

I looked over, my eyes half hooded, and noticed his hands were gripping the steering wheel tighter. He was getting something out of this, whether he admitted it or not.

When I reached the top again, I pushed my fingertips further into my soft flesh and continued rubbing in long circles up and down. Occasionally, just the right position would result in my inner lips pushing against my clit. I bit back a moan when it happened for the third time and continued lower, over my entrance.

"Put one finger in up to your second knuckle, get it all wet, then pull it out and rub your clit until you come," Jacob ordered, his voice was now obviously strangled with lust.

I pulled my panties to the side then slipped my middle finger between the lips and penetrated my center. A soft gasp left my throat as I pushed in to my second knuckle then pulled it back out.

With my enhanced hearing, I heard the steering wheel crack slightly under the force of Jake's hands.

This was probably the reason why we never did anything in the car before. At least, not while it was moving.

I tapped my saturated finger on my clit and jumped a little from the electric zap that shot up to my navel.

"Mmmm," I whimpered softly, and then began rubbing firm, fast circles over my solid little nub. "Oh, fuck." I panted under my breath.

My hips began rocking slowly to match the tempo of my fingers. My muscles wound tight all over my body until I was rigid, but still moving.

"Good girl. You're almost there, aren't you?" he asked huskily. There was definitely a sexual attraction between us, but it was solely isolated to these times. It would be impossible for him to sit and watch me pleasure myself, _without _getting aroused by it as well.

He wanted to touch me. Hell, _I _wanted him to touch me. For a brief second, I imagined it was Jake's hand in my pants. Rubbing, teasing, entering.

"Fuck! Ohh!" I pressed my head back into the seat and arched my back reflexively as my belly was pulled in by the contracting muscles. Even from the outside, I could feel the internal wall squeezing rhythmically with my orgasm.

"We're here," he announced as we pulled into the street Charlie's house was on. "Put your legs down, before one of the neighbors see," he added absently, scanning the fronts of each house for people possibly watching the two of us coming here together.

Breathless and somewhat happy, I complied with his request without argument.

Another thing Jacob did for me—just one more in a growing list—was how his hands could make me come, without even touching me.


	3. Chapter Two

**:*:*:*:**

**Chapter Two**

**:*:*:*:**

"So, how did you end kidnapping me from my house without warning this fine, dreary afternoon?" I inquired whilst washing my hand in the long disused kitchen in Charlie's _recently_ disused house.

When he'd heard Jacob complaining about lack of privacy in his house, Charlie had offered up his as a getaway, now that he was officially living with Sue Clearwater in her house on the rez.

Sure, he used it to get away from the stresses of daily life. But he wasn't alone like everyone thought.

"I was bored. You came to mind. I knew if I asked you'd say now was a bad time, so I didn't ask," he answered simply, making me smile from his unconcerned tone. "Besides, don't you feel better knowing _someone_ out there was thinking of little old you?"

Annnd goodbye to my smile.

I shut off the water and quickly dried my hands on my pants legs then spun back around to face all six foot ten of Jacob.

"You're a real jerk sometimes, you know?" I informed him seriously.

He nodded then shrugged. "I know, but someone has to be, right?"

"Wrong," I instantly challenged.

"Oh, don't pout, honey. You're way too pretty to look so ugly," he cooed annoyingly.

I growled quietly under my breath. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Sure it does. You're just not thinking hard enough." He smiled condescendingly. "Don't worry about it. There's other shit for you to focus your attention on."

I dropped my gaze to the floor and gripped the edge of the counter top behind me firmly. "Stop it," I muttered angrily.

"Stop what?" he asked, innocent as a baby.

"Picking on me," I answered.

He took a big step forward then bent down to lift me up onto the edge of the counter. "Would I do that?" he asked and began stroking my hair languidly.

"Yes . . . yes you would," I said quietly in response.

A defeated sigh left him and both his hands dropped down to my ass. "Fine. We'll play it your way. _For now. _What do you want to do?" he asked and gave me a firm squeeze.

I let my eyes travel down his body. Looking at the machine always helped me pick what I wanted to do with it.

When I looked at his chest, I imagined my hands there while I sat on his face. His abs made me picture the way they'd tighten and ripple when I'd suck his cock or use my hands on him like he would on me. His hips . . . his hips.

"C'mon, leech, we haven't got all day," he sighed impatiently.

Finally, my eyes reached the protruding spot in his pants that sat just inches from my crotch where he was standing between my parted thighs.

It wasn't between my legs that I wanted him.

"I wanna blow you," I decided. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second, then Jake stepped back and I slid from the counter to the floor—landing in a crouch after one, fluid, snake-like motion.

"How can I say no?" He sighed as if it were an inconvenience.

I rolled my eyes and unbuttoned his pants, pulling them down to the backs of his knees. His hardening cock bounced now it was freed and I took it in my hands quickly, feeling the warmth on my palm and the throb of the blood coursing through it.

Jake hissed from the coldness of my skin, but didn't pull away. I slid a little of his foreskin back and forth over the head a few times until a pearly bead of pre-cum oozed out of the slit and then lapped my tongue over it gently until I tasted his deliciously salty flavor.

He sucked in another breath at the even colder temperature of my tongue. I couldn't resist tasting him before I got to work. The blood in his veins gave him a fantastic flavor that vampire guys didn't have. It tasted almost like human blood, hot and salty, but still just a little different because of the wolf gene interfering with his D.N.A.

Once I was done reveling in the flavor of him, I leaned forward again and enveloped his now completely hard dick with my mouth.

"Fuck. Swallow a little so I can get into your throat," he instructed.

I dropped my tongue and pushed him in further, tensing a little when he hit the back of my throat and started curving.

"Uh, God," he whispered, sounding instantly dazed. I worked my tongue along the sensitive nerves under his pulsing cock.

As I pulled back I increased the suction, getting a huge groan from Jake that just got louder the closer I got to the end. I looked up to him then with just the head between my lips and saw him staring back down at me with distant eyes and his mouth slightly open.

His fingers combed through my hair and then pressed me forward, wordlessly asking me to draw him back in.

I sucked my way down smoothly and started a relaxed rhythm, keeping my cheeks drawn in to massage him from all sides. His fingers tightened each time I got back to the head and would loosen again when my lips reached the base with my nose in the short mess of pubic hair.

It only took two or three minutes of this before his heart was totally pounding in his chest and the resulting pulse was burning in my mouth. He wasn't far from climaxing.

"Fu . . . Alice, stop or I'm gonna . . ." Jake started trying to push me away, but I sucked him in harder and grabbed his thighs_—_determined to make him finish for once.

Despite his efforts, his hips were moving of their own volition and with a deep moan I felt hot semen running down my throat.

My mouth instantly started to fill with venom at the salty flavor and I had to suck most of it off as I pulled away from him once the orgasm had stopped.

His fingers loosened in my hair again and he reached down to pull me up to my feet by my shoulders. "You shouldn't do that," he murmured. "That's not why we're here."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I thought you said it was _my _choice today."

"I let you do it, didn't I?" He gazed down at me and cocked his head to one side a little.

"And it was _such _an imposition." I laughed quietly. "Pull up your pants. I'm going to have a shower."

As I walked away I felt a stronger confidence than usual in myself. I could make him come like he could make me. I was becoming like him.

Maybe his methods did have some merit.


	4. Chapter Three

**:*:*:*:**

**Chapter ****Three**

**:*:*:*:**

The hot water ran over my shoulders and down my back as it rinsed the cheap shampoo Charlie had left here from my hair. I massaged my scalp and it suddenly dawned on me how impossible this situation would have seemed to me not very long ago.

I never would have thought I'd be alone in a house with Jacob.

I never would have thought I'd _want _to be alone with him.

But I'd also never thought there'd be a day when Jasper would elect to spend time with other people over me either, so things clearly changed.

FLASH!~

_"Why the hell are you moping like this?! You don't need him. You don't _need _anyone," Jake declared._

_I stared at him with widened eyes. Here was this . . . this _puppy _telling me what I needed in life. He hadn't even been alive long enough to give advice about these things. About _anything_ really._

_"Or do you? Are you that weak? Are you really not enough without your husband?" he asked seriously._

_I couldn't even answer him. I didn't _have _an answer. If I said yes then it was like saying I was totally dependent on Jasper. If I said no then I was pretty much saying I didn't need him, but I did._

_When I didn't answer, he continued, "What is it that you're missing that you can't do for yourself?"_

_Again, I didn't answer. I knew the silence was pretty much the same as agreeing with him, but I didn't want to do that out loud._

_It was embarrassing, the reason why I needed Jasper._

_"You can feed yourself, protect yourself, and get your own money. You're a nice person, so I doubt you'd have any problems finding _someone _to give you attention if that's what you weren't getting from him. Which really only leaves one thing. You're sexually frustrated," he stated like it were a perfectly appropriate thing to say._

_I laughed loudly, severely uncomfortable. "No! That's not it."_

_He looked directly at my face, smirking, and then started walking closer. "Oh really?"_

_"Not that it's any of your business, Jacob, but I'm perfectly content__.__.__. sexually."_

_His eyebrows both lift__ed__ higher on his __forehead __disbelievingly. I stared back at him, challenging with all my shaken might, and he stared right back__._

_"So you're that wet because you get all the attention that you desire?" he asked skeptically._

_I frowned deeply. "What do you mean 'that wet'?"_

_He inhaled purposefully__ and__ then started __snickering __while I gasped and fought off the urge to hide my face._

_Before I had the chance to object, or even to slap him, I was sat upon the hood of his car with Jake standing just inches in front of me._

_"I mean..." He slipped his hand between my legs__, under my skirt,__ and swiftly entered my panties__ before __gathering my wetness on his fingers__._

_I__ snapped my legs shut and pushed him back__, jumping up from the car in preparation to attack him__. _

_"This," he said and held his fingers up in front of my face._

_I froze, __mortified, __and__ watched as he spread and closed his fingers—playing with the __fluid__ between his middle and index fingers._

_"Is there venom in this? Like if a human went down on you, would it change them?" he asked, watching his fingers move__ too__._

_"No," I stuttered in a whisper. "There's only venom in our mouths. And it has to be directly put in the blood stream to change someone."_

_He hummed a little as if to say, "Huh, okay", then curled one finger down while keeping the middle one straight.__The finger went into his mouth and__ re-emerged a few seconds later._

_"You taste sweet like you smell. Not as strong though.__"__H__e analyzed, ignoring my wide open mouth and shocked eyes. "Don't bite," Jake ordered, then slowly started to rub his index finger over my bottom lip. _

_I closed my mouth, but he didn't stop. His finger trailed around to my top lip__ and__ then slowly began working between them._

_"You don't taste bad. You're pretty as hell. Go find someone else to give you what Jasper's too busy to," he told me._

_I parted my teeth to clamp them down on his finger and scare him away, but he was fast and in a second he had his finger lolling about on my tongue._

~FLASH!

As the memory faded away I became acutely aware of a deep throbbing between my legs and was suddenly just as overcome now as I had been that day when he'd unceremoniously put his fingers inside me.

Now it was for a totally difference reason since my perspective on the scene had very much changed.

I slipped my hand between my legs without really _planning _to do so and began gently stroking my fingertips over the wet skin. My body responded instantly and was starting to ache with the undeniable need for pressure and friction.

My middle finger pressed into the cleft as I slide my hand back down so the digit rubbed over my clit and found its way right along to my entrance. As I moved it back up I found myself wishing my hand was warmer.

Wishing it was Jake's hand.

He'd probably never be in my position jerking off in the shower though if I was sitting downstairs. He'd just come down and get me to do it.

It was then I realized that that was exactly what I needed to do. That was the point of all this. Learning to get what I want for myself.

If what I wanted was his heat, I need to go and get it.

I shut off the water then and grabbed a towel to quickly dry my body and get as much water out of my hair as was possible in less than two minutes. As I was about to wrap the towel around myself I decided not to, given that it would be dropped on the floor in ten seconds anyway when I would take it upon myself to initiate a second round with Jacob.

So I left it there in the bathroom and headed downstairs to the living room where the TV was playing what sounded like a sports match of some kind.

When I reached the door and came into view Jake turned to me briefly, inclining his head towards the couch as an invitation to join him, and then looked back to the football game for half a second before his brain processed what it had seen and he whipped back with slightly wider eyes.

"Hello," he said, probably unable to think of anything else.

"Hi," I replied and walked over to the couch.

He openly looked me up and down. "You're naked."

"Mmm hm," I nodded and climbed onto his lap, just his shorts between us, and pressed myself down onto his cock.

"Where'd this come from?" he asked, his hot palms now on my hips.

"I was in the shower—"

"Mmm," he hummed, pulling me down harder against him and closer to his stomach.

"And I was just about to take care of myself."

"What stopped you?" he interjected.

"You," I answered simply. "You're here, so why shouldn't I just take what I want since you're usually quite willing?"

"Wow." His mouth turned up into a grin. "You are actually learning."

I smiled a little, tickling my nails down his chest to his happy trail. His eyes followed my hands down, and then they inevitably traveled across to my bare crotch.

Though he couldn't see my face now, I smiled as I moved my hands from his skin to mine and slowly delved two between my folds. My eyes stayed on his face, watching his reaction, as my fingers sank deeper. He was so enamored with my bold actions, and me with his response, that I didn't realize just how far in I'd gotten until I pushed over my g-spot and whimpered softly.

Jake's hands tightened on my hips and he made a small choking noise in the back of his throat. It seemed he liked me touching myself right on his lap.

I rested my left forearm on his shoulder with my hand sitting absently on the back of his neck and we both watched as I pulled my fingers halfway out and then slid them back in as far as I could reach. My breathing stuttered involuntarily and my legs shook a little on either side of his hips. "Ung," I panted between my barely opened lips, rolling my fingers inside me.

Both his hands slid up my sides, over my rib cage, and squeezed my breasts together before flicking my nipples with his thumbs. A jolt ran through my whole chest and my stomach clenched again.

I pressed my palm hard against my clit and rubbed as firmly as I could in big circles. I could feel his cock pressing hard against the inside of his shorts now when my hand grazed over the bludge and my mind instantly started to imagine what it would be like to have him inside me.

That was something he said wasn't going to be _helpful_, and so we'd never gotten that far. It didn't stop me from thinking about it though. Fantasizing about the length and the thickness that was often in my hands or mouth being in a different place for once.

My hips started to rock then with the start of my orgasm and I pushed a third finger inside easily before pressing even harder into my clit, desperate for the release that would follow.

Jake's fingers slipped around my breasts then so they were covering each completely in his heat and he squeezed my nipples between his fingers, somehow seeming to know that that was all I'd need.

All at once my muscles started to shake and clench from the inside out. My stomach pulled in and back tried to arch itself; my legs attempting to bend in closer, but also straighten at the same time. As my arm began to shake I was unable to continue with the motions and so fingers fell from inside me to rest on my leg.

"Oh my god . . ." I leaned forward more on Jacob, panting quietly.

"Feel better?" he asked, his voice thick and raspy as he let his hands fall from my chest to sit on my thighs too.

I smiled a little and started running my fingers through his hair from my left hand that was on his shoulder. "Yeah. Much."

We sat in silence for a minute or so, enjoying a comfortable moment. While I couldn't be sure what Jake was thinking, I was trying to keep the relaxed feeling going and stop all thoughts of my life stresses for now.

Once we'd both settled down to the point that our breathing was normal and his heart wasn't beating like a race horse, I decided it was time to get up. But before I had even moved, Jake started scooting forward on the couch.

"I think you need another shower," he said, and then grabbed the outside of my thighs quickly before standing up and turning for the door to the staircase.

"I can walk up a flight of stairs," I said, though I didn't try to get out of his hold.

Trying to stop him from doing _anything _he'd decided on was pointless.

It was how we'd got here today after all.

"Yeah." He looked to my eyes. "But I need one too, so . . ."

I raised one eyebrow at him, but I didn't say anything as he started up the stairs. Perhaps he had another lesson for me.


	5. Chapter Four

**:*:*:*:**

**Chapter ****Four**

**:*:*:*:**

When we reached the top of the stairs and stepped into the bathroom Jacob set me down in the shower. There wasn't much space in the tiny room after he was in it, and I was already naked.

As he unbuttoned and slid off his jeans, I turned the water back on and was careful this time to make sure there was enough cold to keep it from burning his skin. Not something I had to worry about myself.

"Move over," he murmured, stepping into the shower with me now he was completely undressed.

I stepped back against the wall so he could get inside the nine square feet of space. "How do you think this is ever going to work?" I asked, basically speaking to his ribs.

He shrugged. "Well that all depends on what we're going to do."

"You started this," I reminded him as I stepped forward and grasped his cock in my hands. "And now it's my responsibility?"

He smiled at me, amused, and looked down to my hands as I gently tugged him to life. "Sorry. I'm not very imaginative." His lips pursed in mock regret.

"Sure." I rolled my eyes before looking back down to my hand and tightening my grip just a little until I heard him moan and the pulse quickened under my hands as he grew harder by the second. "I bet that's what you say to all the girls."

Jake's chest bounced, flicking water off it that was steadily running down from the shower head just above his shoulder. "Something like that," he agreed and then reached across to massage my left breast at a similar rhythm to that of my own hands on him.

I smiled to myself where he couldn't see and started a slow, twisting stroke along the entirety of his impressive length, swiping my thumb across the head every few times.

As steam started to rise off the floor, a different kind of heat was beginning to come out of Jacob. His breaths had turned gradually rougher and as he let his hand drop from my chest he turned slowly until his back was against the wall and he could slump against it for support. I took that as my cue to go further and slowly sank my mouth around him again as it had been just an hour ago when we'd first arrived.

"Fuck . . ." Jake gasped. I looked up to see his eyes closed and his mouth still open.

Rather than working him entirely with my mouth, this time I kept it just on the head and used both my hands to hold and jerk him off. Between the waves of suction I was using on and off and the persistent tightness of my hands it took him less time than before to reach boiling point.

Maybe three or so minutes later, he took my head in both his trembling hands and moved me away, muttering, "Alice, don't." just seconds before he came on my hand and his stomach.

I sighed to myself, but didn't say anything since it had become plainly obvious over the duration of our _game _that he was extremely uncomfortable coming in or around my mouth.

"Is that what you do every time you shower?" he asked lightly and stood up straight again to let the water wash us clean again.

"Pretty much." I shrugged. "My turn now."

His eyes locked in on mine with his brows raised. "Wow, you really are starting to get the idea." He placed both hands on my shoulders and turned me back to the wall I'd originally been leaning against before dropping down to his knees.

I put my right leg over his shoulder as he moved to put it there himself and settled myself just a fraction lower so my pussy was right in front of his face. "Yeah, well it doesn't take me too long. Just be a good boy and lick, okay?"

His crooked smirk returned as he looked between my face and my crotch and with another soft laugh he leaned forward and enveloped me in his burning mouth.

A gasp instantly broke from my lips and a shiver ran through my from head to toe.

His hands had been on and in me a dozen times, but never his mouth. Never something this hot and soft and fantastically moist.

"Oh shit," I squealed in a voice much higher than my usual tone.

He pulled me closer then with his hands on my thighs and moved them up even further to cup my ass and push my hips completely forward so he was able to get everything in his lips.

"Oh God . . . Oh fuck . . ." I whispered. My hands automatically went for his head and right as they touched his wet, black hair his tongue started lapping between the fold at the very tip of my clit. I lost my footing then and if it weren't for his hands I would have been on the floor, probably still gasping for air that I didn't _really_ need.

I looked down to Jake's dark eyes and watched as his top lip rubbed across the very top of my slit causing a tingling feeling I couldn't remember ever happening before. As I moaned weakly in the back of my throat he looked up and met my gaze, smiling just the barest amount before humming to torment me further and elicit an actual scream.

My hands tightened in his hair as my hips began to rock against his mouth in time with the sweeping lines he was making from my entrance back up and both sides on the way.

By the time he focused enough on my clit for me to actually come I had become a babbling, squirming mess ready to collapse at any moment while panting variations of, "Fuck . . . oh god . . . so good . . . faster!" over and over again.

It was at that point that he had decided to grant me some relief from the whole-body throbbing I was experiencing and finally moved his attention to my clit making rapid flicking motions while sucking gently on the whole area.

When the first tremor hit I threw my head back without thinking, cracking the titles behind it, and flung my right arm out to the side to keep it braced on the wall so that I didn't completely fall from his grasps as the rest of the disorientating spasms followed. For ten seconds, nothing else existed around us. Not the shower, not the rattling hot water system, not the birds outside or the neighbors television. It was all gone and I was practically enclosed by it.

Jacob pulled away as I started to get some of the strength back in my legs and I pushed myself up to the best standing position I could, Jake rising in front of me too.

"You shouldn't do that." I repeated his words from earlier between heavy breaths. "That's not why we're here."

He smiled and shook his head gently, turning towards the water spray and picking up the soap.

"And it was _such_ an imposition," he mimicked, glancing at me to roll his eyes as he lathered up his arms and chest.

I smiled too. "Hurry up. I have to get home before they notice. I've been here far too long."

Jake held up his hands in mock surrender and handed me to soap, stepping out of the way. I moved in front of him and quickly rewashed to get his scent off my skin as best I could, ignoring it when he'd run his fingers along my sides or my arms just to try and annoy me.

"Same time next week?" he asked when I was finished and stepped out into the partly flooded bathroom floor.

A frown you would normally give a crazy person pulled into my face. "Are you serious? Routine is the enemy of secrecy."

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'll surprise you then."

I got a towel from the small closet and wrapped it around myself. "I don't suppose you would listen if I said not to?"

He cocked his eyebrow at me, continuing to wash himself through our conversation. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, right." I pursed my lips. "I guess I'll see you later then."

"Later," he agreed and then pulled the flimsy shower curtain across again as I opened the door and left.


	6. Chapter Five

**:*****:*:*:**

**Chapter ****Five**

**:*:*:*:**

When I got back to the house I went straight to my bedroom to change and dispose of my highly scent-infected clothes. Anything residual on my skin wouldn't be worthy of concern, but the whole back half of my clothes smelling like Jacob's car was far too suspicious.

Once I'd picked out something new and fixed my hair, I bundled up about three hundred dollars of clothes I could no longer keep and put them in the very bottom of the bag for goodwill.

Jasper came into the bedroom right as I turned back out of the closet. "Alice, you disappeared before."

I walked over to meet up with him as he came towards me, smiling warmly. "Yeah. I got sick of being locked up in this house." I placed my hands on his chest. "Went for a walk."

His lips pressed against my hairline and his arms gently looped around me. I slid mine around his waist and looked to his chest as we held one and other. "It won't be too much longer before we move, and then all the rogues won't know where to find us and we can stop being paranoid about Nessie constantly." He kissed my head again and then pulled me closer for a few seconds.

"Hopefully," I murmured. "I just wish I could see."

"You're getting used to her," he said. "Eventually you'll be able to see her too."

"And then we just have to worry about the wolves," I replied, pursing my lips regretfully.

"Well." He shrugged. "Some things are unavoidable."

I pulled myself free and moved back a step. "When is this going to stop? All the fighting and attacks and . . ." I shook my head. "It's ridiculous."

Jasper nodded. "I know. I keep expecting to look out the window one day and see Maria there with an army of newborns. I want you to know I do see how distracted I've been by it, and I'm sorry if you're feeling like I've put other things before you."

I bit my bottom lip gently and smiled, bobbing my head just barely. A storm of guilt was swirling around inside me and it was all I could do to keep it from effecting my outward emotions. If that happened, he'd know in an instant. Instead, I turned it into sadness and crossed my arms over my chest to follow it up.

"It won't last forever," I mumbled, totally unconvinced.

"It won't," Jasper vowed. "Now I'm about to negate all of that by telling you I have to leave again, but know that it's true, okay?"

"Where are you going this time?" I asked without looking to his face this time.

"I'm not sure. Wherever we need to to find where the scout came from. They wouldn't be far off."

I nodded silently.

Jasper lingered for a few seconds before turning and walking out.

And I was alone. Again.

It was times like these that I wished desperately that I was human, or at least capable of sleeping if nothing else. Spending every hour of every day one hundred percent conscious was the biggest struggle when you knew you'd live forever.

Although I knew it wouldn't achieve anything, I went to our big king sized bed and dropped down on it with my face buried in the pillows. My consciousness wouldn't leave, but I could close my eyes and _try _to block out the world around me.

It was quite a while from what I could tell before I came back out of my day dreams and focused on the real world. The disruption seemed to have been Nessie scrambling up onto the bed since when I rolled over she was on her hands and knees staring at me curiously with a curtain of bronze hair swaying around her shoulders.

"Aunt Alice, you can't sleep," she stated, tilting her head to the side.

I sat up, prompting her to sit back too. "No, I can't. I was just thinking." I explained as I smoothed down my hair.

"Why were you laying with your face in the pillows?"

"I don't need to breathe, remember?" I smiled weakly at her, hoping that would be the end of the questions for now.

"Oh, right. Kind of a weird way to think." She crawled up closer until she was kneeling by my hip and then sat down again. "Daddy and Uncle Emmett and Uncle Jasper are gone again. They took all the wolves too."

I wondered briefly if that meant that Jacob had gone too, but quickly shook off the thought and nodded to her. "I know."

"I don't know why all these people don't like me." Her voice was still totally calm, but I could tell from the furrow in her brow that it did bother her in some way.

I spoke in a gentle, and hopefully soothing, tone. "They can't dislike _you_ personally, sweetheart. They don't know you. And some of them don't want to hurt you, they want to take you because of how special you are. That's why we're all protecting you. I promise, no one will be able to get past all of us."

Nessie's face tightened even more. "I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me."

"The only people that will get hurt are the ones that want to do you harm when you have done nothing to them." My words seemed to be doing very little to placate her, so I decided to try a distraction instead. "How would you like to go to Seattle? We can all go shopping and have some fun and no one will be here if someone tries to find us, so we'll be safe. Does that sound good?"

She nodded instantly and her frown smoothed. "Yeah. Can we go to the movies, too?"

"Yeah! Of course!" I beamed at her in an attempt to get some excitement in air. "Go get dressed. I'll look up what movies are on and we can _finally _do something fun!"

Nessie slipped off the bed, much less enthusiastic than I would have liked, and walked out of my room to Edward's old one across the hall where all the things she kept here were.

I got off the bed too after a few seconds spent listening to her moving about and started getting myself ready. Once I'd picked out a pair of shoes and sprayed a little perfume on, I checked the movie times and was just finishing when Nessie returned looking like she'd stepped off a Dior runway-making me oh-so-proud of course.

"Thank _god_ fashion sense isn't hereditary." I smiled, getting an eye roll from her.

"You bought every piece of clothing I own," she said. "I don't think I could disappoint you."

I lead her downstairs without any further comment to the living room where Bella, Rosalie and Esme were already waiting for us after no doubt overhearing the plan.

"Everything's going to be fine," Bella said as we came into view and reached out to pull Renesmee to her side. "If we were worried then we _all _would have gone. We certainly wouldn't be going _shopping_."

The seven year old seemed less than convinced, but didn't argue. Instead she just leaned tighter into Bella as the five of us headed down to the garage and piled into Bella's car.

The drive to Seattle became more and more relaxed as the miles slipped behind us and the troubles seemed to stay back with them. By the time we reached the outskirts of the city the car was full of laughter at Rosalie's narration of our history prior to both Bella and Nessie joining us.

The PG version of course . . . Not the one that detailed the sheer amount of nudity throughout the sixties or The Great Bitch Fight of '77 in which hair was pulled and wardrobes were destroyed.

Everything was actually going great, until Bella looked back while driving to comment on something Rose had said. That in itself wouldn't have been a big deal if _any _of us had have been watching to tell her about the man who walked out into the middle of the road.

Alas, by the time Esme turned back around and saw the figure, it was too late for the car to stop regardless of the fact that Bella instantly slammed on the brakes while Rose and I curled around Nessie without a millisecond of hesitation.

The car skidded down the road, collected the man with a sickening thud, and then threw him off over the roof like a trash can rather than a person.

So much for no one getting hurt.


End file.
